Social Lives during the Japanese occupation

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Social Lives during the Japanese occupation On the morning of December 8, 1941 (Hong Kong local time) the Japanese launched an attack on Hong Kong, just 8 hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. British, Canadian and Indian allies helped by the Hong Kong Volunteer Defense Forces made a feeble attempt to stop the rapidly advancing Japanese invasion, but we sadly vastly out numbered. The Hong Kong people lived in an abyss of misery, which lasted for three years and eight months. Many survivors called the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong simply "Three Years and Eight Months". For the Hong Kong people, life under the rule of the Japanese was hard; there was lack of food supply, so the Japanese rationed their food. ...read more.

Middle

Most of the repatriated actually had come to Hong Kong just a few years earlier to flee the terror of the Second Sino-Japanese War in mainland China. In 1944, the rationing system was thankfully cancelled. During the Japanese occupation most public services, such as electricity, gas supplies, and public transportation were badly affected. Fuel was in shortage. The Japanese used a repatriation policy throughout the time of the Japanese occupation because of the lack of food and the possible counter-attack of Hong Kong's Allies. As a result from the repatriation policy, the unemployed population of Hong Kong was deported to the Mainland; the population of Hong Kong had changed from 1.6 million people in 1941 to 600,000 in 1945. But because of the takeover of mainland China in 1949 there was another population boom in Hong Kong. ...read more.

Conclusion

Even with the lack of supply of resources, the Kwong Wah Hospital and the Tung Wah Hospital still keep on offering limited social services to needy people. The Japanese Military also occupied the Queen Mary Hospital and the Kowloon Hospital. Although the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong did seem like a horrible deed, the Japanese government did try to help the Hong Kong people, in September 1942; the Japanese governor Isogai accepted the suggestion of The Bishop and the Chinese Representatives' Association to get assistance from the government to organize charitable activities for relief of the poor. The implementation of the Bishop and the Chinese Representatives idea first involved money from the Far East Foundation Fund to be given to the government. The Funds were then transferred to the relief fund for the local people of Hong Kong. ...read more.

Ethanol is a very efficient fuel in that a little goes a long way and doesn't produce as bad emissions as petrol. Ethanol can be used in normal car engines that have had a special fuel system modification. An alternative to getting any modifications is to put 10% Ethanol into normal petrol and use that.

* Amidst general concerns that Soviets had used the period of good relations to move ahead of the US, there was talk of a "window of opportunity" when a Soviet first strike might succeed against the US. * 1979 - President Carter and Soviet leader Brezhnev did sign the SALT II.

The USSR was worried about the expansion of Islam over the Middle East. The USSR invaded Kabul to establish a communist government before Muslim rebels could take control. The USSR lied and said that they had been invited in by communists residing in Afghanistan.